Synesius of Cyrene

Mosaic depicting an angel. Museum of Ptolemais

Synesius of Cyrene (c.370-c.413) was a Neo-Platonic philosopher who became bishop of Ptolemais in the Cyrenaica. He left behind a small corpus of texts that offer much information about daily life in Late Antiquity, and about the christianization of the Roman world.

Hymn 10 is offered here in the translation by A. Fitzgerald.

Hymn 10: To Christ

O Christ, Son of God
who reigneth above,
remember Thy servant,
by destiny a sinner,
who writeth these words,
and grant my release
from passions that bring death,
which are implanted in me,
a sullied soul.

Grant me,
O Savior Jesus,
to behold Thy divine light,
that appearing there
I may sing a song
to the Healer of souls,
the Healer of bodies,
together with the mighty Father
and the Holy Spirit.

Online 2007
Revision: 14 August 2007